Pre-drilling geothermal assessment of porosity and permeability of the Bunter Sandstone Formation, onshore Denmark

Author(s):  
Morten Leth Hjuler ◽  
Lars Kristensen

Denmark constitutes a low-enthalpy geothermal area. Current geothermal production takes place from two sandstone-rich formations: the Bunter Sandstone and Gassum Formations. These formations form major potential geothermal reservoirs, but information about the permeability of the potential sandstone reservoirs is difficult to obtain. This may be explained by deposition in a variety of environments under different climatic conditions, and by variable diagenetic overprint (Olivarius et al. 2015). Thus, the sandstone characteristics and properties are diverse, and in areas where wells are scarce, the assessment of the extent and reservoir properties of sandstone layers is associated with much uncertainty. In order to reduce exploration risk it is therefore essential to develop a robust method for prediction of porosity and permeability prior to drilling.

Clay Minerals ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 417-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. F. Shaw

AbstractThe distribution and origin of clay minerals in Carboniferous sandstone reservoir rocks, onshore and offshore UK, is reviewed using both published and unpublished sources. The clay mineralogy for many of the Carboniferous reservoir sands tends to be similar, with the detrital clays predominantly illitic whereas the diagenetic clay assemblages are dominated by kaolin with usually lesser amounts of illite. The main exception to this pattern is found in the Dinantian sandstones of the Clair Basin where significant amounts of smectite are present. Three stages of diagenetic kaolin formation are widely recognized. Firstly eogenetic and/or telogenetic kaolinite; secondly mesogenetic kaolin; and thirdly the partial or complete transformation of kaolinite to dickite during deep burial. In addition to the formation of diagenetic clay phases, the sandstone reservoirs also display a complex diagenetic history involving cementation and dissolution processes. These have affected the reservoir properties of the sandstones but the depositional facies architecture still exerts a major recognizable influence on reservoir porosity-permeability characteristics. The abundance of kaolin cements shows no clear correlation with variations in porosity and permeability for Carboniferous reservoirs. Pore- filling smectite affects reservoir porosity and permeability in the Dinantian of the Clair Field, and could be a potential source of serious reservoir damage arising from swelling.


e-Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-60
Author(s):  
Wenting Dong ◽  
Dong Zhang ◽  
Keliang Wang ◽  
Yue Qiu

AbstractPolymer flooding technology has shown satisfactorily acceptable performance in improving oil recovery from unconsolidated sandstone reservoirs. The adsorption of the polymer in the pore leads to the increase of injection pressure and the decrease of suction index, which affects the effect of polymer flooding. In this article, the water and oil content of polymer blockages, which are taken from Bohai Oilfield, are measured by weighing method. In addition, the synchronous thermal analyzer and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) are used to evaluate the composition and functional groups of the blockage, respectively. Then the core flooding experiments are also utilized to assess the effect of polymer plugs on reservoir properties and optimize the best degradant formulation. The results of this investigation show that the polymer adsorption in core after polymer flooding is 0.0068 g, which results in a permeability damage rate of 74.8%. The degradation ability of the agent consisting of 1% oxidizer SA-HB and 10% HCl is the best, the viscosity of the system decreases from 501.7 to 468.5 mPa‧s.


2003 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 691-698
Author(s):  
M. J. Sarginson

AbstractThe Clipper Gas Field is a moderate-sized faulted anticlinal trap located in Blocks 48/19a, 48/19c and 48/20a within the Sole Pit area of the southern North Sea Gas Basin. The reservoir is formed by the Lower Permian Leman Sandstone Formation, lying between truncated Westphalian Coal Measures and the Upper Permian evaporitic Zechstein Group which form source and seal respectively. Reservoir permeability is very low, mainly as a result of compaction and diagenesis which accompanied deep burial of the Sole Pit Trough, a sub basin within the main gas basin. The Leman Sandstone Formation is on average about 715 ft thick, laterally heterogeneous and zoned vertically with the best reservoir properties located in the middle of the formation. Porosity is fair with a field average of 11.1%. Matrix permeability, however, is less than one millidarcy on average. Well productivity depends on intersecting open natural fractures or permeable streaks within aeolian dune slipface sandstones. Field development started in 1988. 24 development wells have been drilled to date. Expected recoverable reserves are 753 BCF.


2021 ◽  
pp. 3570-3586
Author(s):  
Mohanad M. Al-Ghuribawi ◽  
Rasha F. Faisal

     The Yamama Formation includes important carbonates reservoir that belongs to the Lower Cretaceous sequence in Southern Iraq. This study covers two oil fields (Sindbad and Siba) that are distributed Southeastern Basrah Governorate, South of Iraq. Yamama reservoir units were determined based on the study of cores, well logs, and petrographic examination of thin sections that required a detailed integration of geological data and petrophysical properties. These parameters were integrated in order to divide the Yamama Formation into six reservoir units (YA0, YA1, YA2, YB1, YB2 and YC), located between five cap rock units. The best facies association and petrophysical properties were found in the shoal environment, where the most common porosity types were the primary (interparticle) and secondary (moldic and vugs) . The main diagenetic process that occurred in YA0, YA2, and YB1 is cementation, which led to the filling of pore spaces by cement and subsequently decreased the reservoir quality (porosity and permeability). Based on the results of the final digital  computer interpretation and processing (CPI) performed by using the Techlog software, the units YA1 and YB2 have the best reservoir properties. The unit YB2 is characterized by a good effective porosity average, low water saturation, good permeability, and large thickness that distinguish it from other reservoir units.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 9-18
Author(s):  
Ahmed Abdulwahhab Suhail ◽  
Mohammed H. Hafiz ◽  
Fadhil S. Kadhim

   Petrophysical characterization is the most important stage in reservoir management. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate reservoir properties and lithological identification of Nahr Umar Formation in Nasiriya oil field. The available well logs are (sonic, density, neutron, gamma-ray, SP, and resistivity logs). The petrophysical parameters such as the volume of clay, porosity, permeability, water saturation, were computed and interpreted using IP4.4 software. The lithology prediction of Nahr Umar formation was carried out by sonic -density cross plot technique. Nahr Umar Formation was divided into five units based on well logs interpretation and petrophysical Analysis: Nu-1 to Nu-5. The formation lithology is mainly composed of sandstone interlaminated with shale according to the interpretation of density, sonic, and gamma-ray logs. Interpretation of formation lithology and petrophysical parameters shows that Nu-1 is characterized by low shale content with high porosity and low water saturation whereas Nu-2 and Nu-4 consist mainly of high laminated shale with low porosity and permeability. Nu-3 is high porosity and water saturation and Nu-5 consists mainly of limestone layer that represents the water zone.


2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (8) ◽  
pp. 783-796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Weides ◽  
Inga Moeck ◽  
Jacek Majorowicz ◽  
Matthias Grobe

Recent geothermal exploration indicated that the Cambrian Basal Sandstone Unit (BSU) in central Alberta could be a potential target formation for geothermal heat production, due to its depth and extent. Although several studies showed that the BSU in the shallower Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) has good reservoir properties, almost no information exists from the deeper WCSB. This study investigated the petrography of the BSU in central Alberta with help of drill cores and thin sections from six wells. Porosity and permeability as important reservoir parameters for geothermal utilization were determined by core testing. The average porosity and permeability of the BSU is 10% and <1 × 10−14 m2, respectively. A zone of high porosity and permeability was identified in a well located in the northern part of the study area. This study presents the first published geomechanical tests of the BSU, which were obtained as input parameters for the simulation of hydraulic stimulation treatments. The BSU has a relatively high unconfined compressive strength (up to 97.7 MPa), high cohesion (up to 69.8 MPa), and a remarkably high friction coefficient (up to 1.22), despite a rather low tensile strength (<5 MPa). An average geothermal gradient of 35.6 °C/km was calculated from about 2000 temperature values. The temperature in the BSU ranges from 65 to 120 °C. Results of this study confirm that the BSU is a potential geothermal target formation, though hydraulic stimulation treatments are required to increase the permeability of the reservoir.


2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (12) ◽  
pp. 876-885
Author(s):  
Danilo Jotta Ariza Ferreira ◽  
Gabriella Martins Baptista de Oliveira ◽  
Thais Mallet Castro ◽  
Raquel Macedo Dias ◽  
Wagner Moreira Lupinacci

An embedded model estimator (EMBER) petrophysical modeling algorithm has been applied to obtain effective porosity and permeability within the presalt carbonate reservoirs of the Barra Velha Formation in Buzios Field, Santos Basin. This advanced methodology was used due to the heterogeneity and complexity of the reservoirs, which makes modeling by conventional geostatistical methodologies difficult. For effective porosity modeling, we chose one facies model, one stratigraphic seismic attribute (acoustic impedance), and one structural seismic attribute (local flatness) as secondary variables. Permeability was modeled by using the best effective porosity simulation result as a secondary variable. Our results demonstrate that average effective porosity and permeability were 0.10 v/v and 440 md, respectively, indicating good reservoir quality throughout the studied area. A vertical trend of high effective porosities and permeabilities for the basal and uppermost reservoir sections was identified in our results, as well as a trend with lower values for these reservoir properties for the intermediate reservoir section. The lower section of the formation presented more continuity, and we infer it to be the best reservoir interval. We observed two horizontal trends for these reservoir properties at the formation top: one of higher values aligned to the north–south direction at the structural highs and another of lower reservoir properties related to isolated structural lows within structural highs. Correlation between modeled results and the blind test ANP-1 well upscaled properties was high, and upscaled well-log property distributions were preserved in the EMBER simulations, proving the predictive capacity of the algorithm. Finally, conditional distributions analysis indicated that the basal section of the Barra Velha Formation presents higher uncertainty for the estimation of effective porosity. Even though this interval is considered to have the best reservoir characteristics, decision making should be done with caution for this section.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chong Cao ◽  
Linsong Cheng ◽  
Xiangyang Zhang ◽  
Pin Jia ◽  
Wenpei Lu

Abstract Permeability changes in the weakly consolidated sandstone formation, caused by sand migration, has a serious impact on the interpretation of well testing and production prediction. In this article, a two-zone comprehensive model is presented to describe the changes in permeability by integrating the produced sand, stress sensitivity characteristics. In this model, inner zone is modeled as a higher permeability radial reservoir because of the sand migration, while the outer zone is considered as a lower permeability reservoir. Besides, non-Newtonian fluid flow characteristics are considered as threshold pressure gradient in this paper. As a result, this bi-zone comprehensive model is built. The analytical solution to this composite model can be obtained using Laplace transformation, orthogonal transformation, and then the bottomhole pressure in real space can be solved by Stehfest and perturbation inversion techniques. Based on the oilfield cases validated in the oilfield data from the produced sand horizontal well, the flow regimes analysis shows seven flow regimes can be divided in this bi-zone model considering stress sensitive. In addition, the proposed new model is validated by the compassion results of traditional method without the complex factors. Besides, the effect related parameters of stress sensitivity coefficient, skin factor, permeability ratio and sanding radius on the typical curves of well-testing are analyzed. This work introduces two-zone composite model to reflect the variations of permeability caused by the produced sand in the unconsolidated sandstone formation, which can produce great influence on pressure transient behavior. Besides, this paper can also provide a more accurate reference for reservoir engineers in well test interpretation of loose sandstone reservoirs.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fadzlin Hasani Kasim ◽  
Budi Priyatna Kantaatmadja ◽  
Wan Nur Wan M Zainudin ◽  
Amita Ali ◽  
Hasnol Hady Ismail ◽  
...  

Abstract Predicting the spatial distribution of rock properties is the key to a successful reservoir evaluation for hydrocarbon potential. However, a reservoir with a complex environmental setting (e.g. shallow marine) becomes more challenging to be characterized due to variations of clay, grain size, compaction, cementation, and other diagenetic effects. The assumption of increasing permeability value with an increase of porosity may not be always the case in such an environment. This study aims to investigate factors controlling the porosity and permeability relationships at Lower J Reservoir of J20, J25, and J30, Malay Basin. Porosity permeability values from routine core analysis were plotted accordingly in four different sets which are: lithofacies based, stratigraphic members based, quartz volume-based, and grain-sized based, to investigate the trend in relating porosity and permeability distribution. Based on petrographical studies, the effect of grain sorting, mineral type, and diagenetic event on reservoir properties was investigated and characterized. The clay type and its morphology were analyzed using X-ray Diffractometer (XRD) and Spectral electron microscopy. Results from porosity and permeability cross-plot show that lithofacies type play a significant control on reservoir quality. It shows that most of the S1 and S2 located at top of the plot while lower grade lithofacies of S41, S42, and S43 distributed at the middle and lower zone of the plot. However, there are certain points of best and lower quality lithofacies not located in the theoretical area. The detailed analysis of petrographic studies shows that the diagenetic effect of cementation and clay coating destroys porosity while mineral dissolution improved porosity. A porosity permeability plot based on stratigraphic members showed that J20 points located at the top indicating less compaction effect to reservoir properties. J25 and J30 points were observed randomly distributed located at the middle and bottom zone suggesting that compaction has less effect on both J25 and J30 sands. Lithofacies description that was done by visual analysis through cores only may not correlate-able with rock properties. This is possibly due to the diagenetic effect which controls porosity and permeability cannot visually be seen at the core. By incorporating petrographical analysis results, the relationship between porosity, permeability, and lithofacies can be further improved for better reservoir characterization. The study might change the conventional concept that lower quality lithofacies does not have economic hydrocarbon potential and unlock more hydrocarbon-bearing reserves especially in these types of environmental settings.


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